InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Standing Down ❯ Inu Yasha, in all his white-haired badboy-ness ( Chapter 2 )

*Many, many thanks to Bri, my blue-and-purple haired friend who worked with me on the note!

Disclaimer: I don't own Inu Yasha. Don't sue me!! [shields against lawyers and briefcases] Nooo!!

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Kagome scanned the suite one last time before she left. Everything was Japanese-themed, but the underlying modern hotel showed in some things. The floor was made of imported wood, the walls designed after the panels of the houses in feudal Japan. The tables and beds hugged close to the floor and pillows replaced chairs. There were palms sitting in baskets placed throughout the area, most with lights behind them. Ms. Higurashi had decided to hide the lights to mask any traces of technology. There was a small water fountain surrounded by sand where the fireplace would have been, with spotlights focused on it from the ceiling. Her room branched off in one direction, the bathroom in another. Huge sliding panes shifted aside to reveal the magnificent blanket of light that was Las Vegas, sprawled out far below the hotel room. She would most definitely miss this.

Kagome had only visited her father twice before, and both times he had been single, living in a messy apartment and bartending at the Rio. Now he was married, living in a house, and doing free-lance appraisals of houses. She was nervous, to say the least, about fitting in with his new life. Her mother called from the hallway, snapping Kagome back to reality. The moving van was here, waiting for her, in the parking lot. She glanced back at her home and flicked the lights off, shutting the door behind her.

The way the moving men looked at Kagome made her mother edgy, but Kagome did not care - she cared little about anything anymore. She wanted desperately to ride her Honda to her new home, but eventually lost the argument to her mother. She rolled her bike up the ramp to the van, to the joy of the four Mexicans standing behind her, and got into her mother's Honda Civic. The men followed them north and exited I 15 two exits after the one Kagome had taken the day before. The streets were filled with little children, and teenagers stood in groups, lurking in corners. Some were passing cigarettes around, some laughing, but they all paused for a moment to stare at Kagome and the van, with judgment in their eyes.

Her father's house was a one-story, stucco building with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a small backyard. Kagome had set her bags on the driveway and was gaping blatantly at the house when her mother interrupted her thoughts - or lack thereof.

"Oh look, Kagome, it has a lawn and everything - how cute!" She gave her daughter a shove in the back and opened the door to her civic. "The guys will carry all of your things in, and you'll have the whole day to meet your father! Have fun!" With that, she drove off to leave Kagome to fend for her self.

No matter, Kagome was used to being hung out to dry by people who were supposed to be taking care of her. She had learned long ago how to take care of her self, and had been doing so since the age of eleven. Most nights she went to bed without knowing where her mother was, and on several occasions had hosted parties in her hotel room that ended long before Ms. Higurashi returned. The thirty-six-year-old had been dating around since she and Mr. Higurashi split up, and baby sitters were rare in Sin City. Consequently, a young Kagome had been left alone often, just as she was now.

Kagome sighed, walked to the door of her father's house and rang the doorbell. A young Taiwanese woman opened it almost instantaneously. She very nearly hugged the existence out of Kagome before inviting her into the house. The carpet was beige, the walls were white as well as the doors and tile, and the furniture was tan leather. A ceiling fan turned silently above a coffee table and ZZ Top's `Gimme all your lovin' played from an entertainment center that was backed up against the wall across from the couch. A hall branched off to the right of the living room, and directly past the living room was an open kitchen. Beyond that was a game room from which a set of sliding doors led to a beautiful outdoor garden.

The Taiwanese woman picked up Kagome's bags and disappeared down the hallway with three Mexicans following her. Kagome took her shoes off at the door and slipped her bag off her shoulder, flinging it into the corner made by the wall and hutch. The moving men finished bringing her boxes in and left. The woman was Kagome's stepmother, whose name was Mao Fin. Kagome was instructed to call her Kristine, the name she had adopted upon immigrating to the U.S.

Kagome's father was a forty-five-year-old, black haired American who stood tall at six feet and four inches. He was muscular, but his stomach bulged a bit. He held a glass of brown soda in one hand and a cigarette dangled from his lips.

"Kagome?"

"Dad."

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Kagome sat at the dining room table, eating her first home-cooked meal in a long time. Salad, sautéed chicken, steamed asparagus, and mac&cheese sat on her plate, all subject to Kagome's tormenting fork. She shoveled food into her mouth equally as fast as her father, all while sipping her ice water at irregular intervals. In her mother's hotel Kagome was considered unwomanly because of her unequaled appetite, but here it seemed normal. Kagome assumed the task of cleaning dishes after everyone had finished eating. Her dad flopped onto the couch, set his mystery drink on the coffee table, and grabbed the remote while her stepmother folded her legs daintily on a cushion and began to read.

As soon as Kagome took her seat, her father turned the TV on and changed the channel to FOX. `The Simpsons was just beginning; the theme music encircled Kagome from several sides and she realized that her dad had surround sound. The remainder of the evening was spent watching `American Idol,' '24,' and dating show reruns. Kagome walked to bed at 10:30 and heard her dad yelling down the hall. She groaned and trudged back down the hall to ask what he had said.

"The bus comes at 7:25, be ready."

Kagome smirked at the thought of riding a school bus again and lumbered to her bed, grateful for the warm sheets that surrounded her. She turned her lamp off, closed her eyes and let darkness sweep her into dreams.

*~^~*

Kagome woke to static. Her brain still fuzzy from sleep, she looked around the room trying to find the source of the annoying sound. She found an alarm clock sitting innocently on a nightstand, its digital numbers blinking as the fuzzy noise emanated from it. Kagome slapped a button on the top of the device and saw that it was only 6:13. She crawled out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom, took a shower and dried her hair. It was 6:52 now, and she was starving. Apparently, her parents had yet to wake up; the door to their room was ajar but no light emitted from the inside.

The girl walked into the kitchen and began to make pancakes. She sprinkled chocolate chips into the batter while they sizzled, and left five of them on a plate with a note that read, `made breakfast, enjoy - Kagome.' She ate two pancakes, rinsed the dishes and put them in the dishwasher, then plodded back to her room. She dressed quickly in a black skirt and rather tight pink shirt that read, `If I cry, will you give me a pony?' She liked completely random things like that. Kagome pulled on a pair of black shorts under her skirt and hollered, `I'm going to school now, BYE!' She received no answer, so she grabbed her shoulder bag, walked out of the house and shut the door behind her. Halfway to her bike she heard Kristine shuffling down the sidewalk, and turned to see her waving a piece of paper.

"Kagome! Kagome! Here!" Kristine ran up to the girl and shoved the note into her hand, explaining that the number on it was the code to open the garage and that the map would get her to school.

Kagome smirked at the woman's exuberance and swung her right leg over the seat of her Honda. She turned the fuel switch to `on' and started the engine, backing out of the driveway carefully. After careful consideration of the map, she turned left at Poseidon Street, then turned onto Sky Point Drive and crossed over the highway. She then took a left followed by a right, ending up on Centennial Parkway, and after a mile or so the road shrunk into a residential street. She turned into the parking lot of Centennial Senior High School and followed the stream of drivers going into what she assumed to be the parking lot. Students were walking to the front doors by way of sidewalk, and several of them looked disapprovingly at Kagome.

She parked her bike in a space marked `visitor parking' and pulled off her helmet, revealing her flowing raven tresses. A boy wearing a purple shirt and black cargo pants stopped to stare openly as she rose from her seat and hung her helmet. A guy wearing a red shirt and black pants smacked him upside the head and pulled him toward the entrance. `So begins the torture,' Kagome thought. She walked boldly to the school's office, where she told the secretary her name and asked for her schedule as well as a parking spot for the school year. Having received both, she stalked out of the too-sterile office and scanned her schedule.

HR

COURSE

TEACHER

ROOM

1

Zoology AP

McKibbin

A101

2

Trigonometry AP

Starks

B104

3

English AP

Henderson

D102

4

Spanish 3 AP

Sanders

B108

L2

CAF

5

American History

Walsh

C105

6

Softball

Hart

FIELD

There were only four halls in the school. Kagome was used to floors upon floors of classrooms filled with over 500 students within her own class. In this school, it seemed that there was roughly that many in the entire high school. She found hall A, room 101, and knocked firmly on the door. A female teacher opened it for her and Kagome handed her the schedule. The professor skimmed it, handed it back, and introduced the new girl.

"This is Kagome Higurashi. She's from Tokyo, Japan, and will be with us for the remainder of this year. Here's you textbook, and you can take the spot at bench three, in front of Inu Yasha."

Kagome smirked - he was the boy who had slapped the pervert just minutes before. Seconds after Ms. McKibbin began continue her lecture Kagome felt warm breath on the back of her neck. "You smell great."

He laughed quietly as Kagome attempted to swat him off her neck. She turned around to face him and blew a raspberry at him. He pointed to her chest and said, "I love your shirt."

"Inu Yasha, if you are going to flirt with the lady I must ask you to do so more quietly. Ms. McKibbin is something of an airhead, but even she can hear you." The boy wearing purple was leaning, eyes shut, with his back against the wall.

Inu Yasha sighed in irritation and pulled a half-folded piece of paper from his bag. He wrote something on it in red pen and passed it to Kagome, who rolled her eyes at his immaturity. Writing notes at age 17, honestly.

So what's up with your shirt?

I'm daddy's little girl.

That's an interesting look for a little girl.

Yay? I felt like wearing the shirt, is that a problem?

Most definitely not…

Kagome frowned at the last part and looked up at him to find his eyes focused a bit lower than she would have liked.

Hello?? Eyes on the paper, moron.

I was just reading your shirt

Bull. You already read the shirt, and you're starting to bore me.

But I'm so sexy… how could I be boring?!

Well it takes no effort to throw good insults at you.

She grabbed the paper back halfway into passing it and added another detail.

And you're hair is graying. How is that sexy?

Feh.

Ooh…good one. My bunny slippers just ran for cover.

This conversation is over.

Then why are you still writing? Admit it.Youwant me.

Refer to my previous statement.

Bastard

Bitch

Dumbass

Skank

Nimrod

You're weird

No shit, Sherlock. Bye now!! ^-^

Kagome snatched the note back before he could write anything and stuffed it into her bag. She smiled to herself and decided that she would have to show the letter to Sango later. The remaining half hour of the class passed by rather quickly in a discussion deciding how many labs they were to have each month. At the end of class, Kagome looked at her schedule once again and made her way to B hall. Mrs. Starks's room was dark and slightly cramped, and reeked of TV dinners. She walked up to Mrs. Starks and introduced herself.

"Oh, I know you; you're the girl from the private school across town. You can sit in the far row, in the second to last seat. Have fun not paying attention." She was a frail, wrinkly woman with unbelievably tanned skin and glasses. Kagome liked her immediately.

"Mrs. Starks, I did my homework!" An all-too-familiar voice rang out from the door and Kagome turned to find Inu Yasha brandishing a sheet of paper.

"Oh, Gods."

"Oh, Kami…" Kagome frowned at Inu Yasha and walked past him to take her seat. She settled in and took out her manga, Chobits. She looked up from behind her bangs and watched Inu Yasha sit to the left and in front of her, much to her dismay. Just to anger him, she set her book down quietly and began running her fingers through his platinum white hair. It was unexpectedly velvety smooth beneath her touch and Kagome found herself enjoying the feel of it. After a few moments, Inu Yasha slapped her hand away and stole her manga off her desk.

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Well, that's it. I have nothing of importance to say, so off you all go! REVIEW!!!